Thrilling Adventure Hour

Beyond Belief, “Romanian…

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Thrilling Adventure Hour #59: Beyond Belief, “Romanian Holiday”

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Starring Paget Brewster as that married medium Sadie Doyle. Also starring John Ennis, Scott Aukerman, Nick Kroll, and Gillian Jacobs. Recorded July 9, 2011.

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Not a lot to say about this episode except that it’s a powerhouse cast doing amazing, comic work. We always worry when Paget Brewster or Paul F. Tompkins is unavailable for a show and we need to do a solo Frank or Sadie adventure. Will it play the same? Will the charm still be there? No and yes, is generally the answer. We’ve expanded the world of Beyond Belief (slowly, compared with that of Sparks Nevada), so Frank and Sadie have a number of fun characters with whom to have adventures.

John Ennis‘s Carter Caldwell has become one of our favorites. John plays him with a mix of the devilish and the clueless (and as somewhat of a coward, a nice contrast to the Doyles).

All in all, it’s a silly episode, though, having something to do with gypsies and curses, horror tropes that don’t get too much play but which we thought worth exploring anyway. We found the emotional story to tell in it, and all of the gypsies — Gillian Jacobs, Scott Aukerman, and Nick Kroll — do a terrific job selling not just the comedy but also the pathos of the story. Gillian in particular knocked us out in this episode — it was only perhaps her second time playing with us — and she came up with this crazy voice and accent on her own. It was with this episode that Gillian cemented her place as a recurring WorkJuice Player, someone we want to put in various parts as often as possible. (Scott and Nick were already on that list, having wowed us in their previous appearances. For another awesome Aukerman performance, check out episode #42 in which Scott plays an African god. And for some brilliant Kroll, listen to episode #28 in which Nick hilariously plays Captain Laserbeam’s dangerous foe, King Mammal).

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9 comments

I am baffled at the praise that gets thrown at Paget Brewster. She is overrated and it looked like she was a goner on Criminal Minds, but damn she wasn’t dead and they had the chance to get rid of her and they didn’t.

I am baffled at the praise that gets thrown at Paget Brewster. She is overrated and it looked like she was a goner on Criminal Minds, but she wasn’t dead and they had the chance to get rid of her and they didn’t.

Sounds a little like ted c is sippin on some haterade. Brewster is phenomenal on TAH and her work on other programs is intrinsically interpretive. I don’t care for criminal minds…so I don’t watch it. Doesn’t make it bad, just not for me.

Paget is one of the two reasons (Paul F Tompkins the other), that Beyond Belief is my favorite storyline. She’s amazing here, and make me remember back to the glory days of Andy Richter Controls the Universe. At least some of us thought that was a great show, screw you Fox executives.